Polishing or buffing composition and method of using the same



Jan. 13, 1953 H. ,J. VANDER WAL POLISHING OR BUFFING COMPOSITION AND METHOD OF usmc THE smug Filed Feb. 1, 1950 INVENTOR. Henry J l ana er W0! ATTORNE).

Patented Jan. 13, 1953 POLISHING OR BUFFING COMPOSITION AND METHOD OF USING THE SAll IE Henry J. Vander Wal, Grandville, Mich, assignor to Wagner Brothers, Inc., Highland Park, Mich, a corporation of Michigan Application February 1, 1950, Serial No. 141,768

8 Claims.

Third, to provide a novel and efficient blast polishing or buffing composition.

Objects relating to details and economies of the invention will appear from the description to follow. The invention is defined and pointed out in the claims.

A preferred'embodiment of the invention is illustrated in the accompanying drawing, in which:

' Fig. 1 is a fragmentary side elevational view of an apparatus suitable for use in the practice of my method and the use of my polishing or buifing composition.

Fig. 2 is an enlarged fragmentary view partially in longitudinal section of a blast nozzle of the apparatus illustrated in Fig. l and suitable for use in the practice of my method.

Fig. 3 is an enlarged view of one type of the elements of my polishing composition.

- Fig. .4 is a perspective view of another type of the elements of my polishing composition.

In Fig. 1 I have illustrated an apparatus suitable for the practice of my method, this apparatus being the subject matter of my copending application for Letters Patent executed December 27, 1949, Serial No. 135,922, filed December 30, 1949. That apparatus consists generally of an elongated cabinet I supported on suitable legs 2 and having openings in the ends thereof receiving the upper reach 3 of the conveyer 4. This conveyor is supported at its ends by the sprocket wheels 5 and 6, the sprocket wheel 5 being driven from the motor I.

The conveyer is provided with a plurality of work holders 8, pieces of work 9 being shown thereon. As the work is translated through the cabinet by means of the conveyer it is subjected to impinging blast jets designated generally by the numeral iii in Fig. 2 and directed upon the work by the nozzles ll. These nozzles are desirably adjustably mounted as described in my said copending application.

The cabinet is provided with a sump l2, the pump l3 driven by the motor l4 having its inlet (not illustrated) connected to this sump. The discharge 15 of the pump is connected to the header l6 which is suitably connected as by the flexible conduits I! to the nozzles. With this arrangement the workpieces are translated in a predetermined path and successively subjected to a plurality of the blast jets I0. Desirably the liquid vehicle is under a pressure of 200 pounds per square inch and is of a cream-like consistency.

The liquid vehicle is desirably a mixture of oleic acid, mineral oil, Tripoli paste or other suitable abrasive paste in proportions of one gallon of the Tripoli paste to one pint mineral oil and sufficient oleic acid to produce a cream-like consistency. The Tripoli paste or other abrasive is,

selected in accordance with the type of work. For example, to buff or polish steel and other hard materials the Tripoli paste, commercially designated as coarse size, may be suitably used. When the work is of softer grade such as brass, zinc die castings or aluminum, I use one gallon of medium size Tripoli paste and for finer results one cup or one-half pint of aluminum oxide, fine flour grade may be added for each gallon of the Tripoli paste. To this mixture I add fragments of sponge rubber and fragments of felt, desirably of the order of one-quarter inch in diameter or width. The pieces which I desirably use range from one-eighth inch to onehalf inch in longest dimension.

I believe that the pores of the sponge rubber carry and deliver the abrasive upon or into adhering contact with the surface of the work and that the deformable felt wipes the abrasive along the surface as the felt is forcibly discharged against the work. The oleic acid is highly desirable as a fluid vehicle as it is non-corrosive and may be easily washed from the work.

The work is desirably placed on the conveyer at one end of the cabinet and taken off at the same end so that one workman keeps the conveyer loaded. The method is highly efiicient and eliminates the necessity for manual manipulation of the work as is required on bufiing wheels. It results in a very uniform polishing and lending as the work is subjected to repeated impinging blasts of the polishing medium or composition.

The sponge rubber and felt fragments yield to the contour of the work as they are discharged against the same so that the entire exposed surface oi the work as it is translated past the jets is efiectively treated. For polishing or bufiing relatively soft objects the felt may be such as is 3 commercially designated as being of medium hardness and for hard materials felt commercially designated as hard felt may be used. The proportions of the sponge rubber fragments and the felt fragments may be considerably varied but one quart of sponge fragments to four quarts of the felt fragments is satisfactory, and the proportions of the fragments to the liquid vehicle may desirably be one quart of the sponge rubber fragments and four quarts of the felt fragments to one gallon of Tripoli paste, one-half pint of mineral oil with such quantity of oleic acid added thereto as will result in a heavy cream-like fluid.

The apparatus illustrated and more fully illustrated and described in my said copending application is highly elficient for the practice of my method.

I have not illustrated and described other apparatus which might be used for the practice of my method as it is believed that this disclosure will enable those skilled in the art to embody or adapt my invention as may be desired.

Having thus described my invention, what I claim as new and desire to secure by Letters Patent is:

1. The method of polishing or buffing comprising the steps of translating a plurality of work pieces in succession in a predetermined path and successively subjecting the work pieces as they are translated in such path to a plurality of jets of a liquid vehicle under pressure of the order of two hundred pounds per square inch, the vehicle being of a cream-like consistency and carrying fragments of sponge rubber and fragments of felt, and an abradant, the fragments being of the order of 1; inch in diameter and in proportions of approximately one quart of the sponge rubber fragments to three quarts of the felt fragments.

2. The method of polishing or bufling comprising the steps of translating a plurality of work pieces in succession in a predetermined path and successively subjecting the work pieces as they are translated in such path to a plru'ality of jets of a liquid vehicle under pressure of the order of two hundred pounds per square inch, the vehicle carrying fragments of sponge rubber and fragments of felt, and an abradant.

3. The method of polishing or buffing comprising the steps of subjecting the work to an impinging high pressure blast of a liquid vehicle of cream-like consistency carrying fragments of sponge rubber and fragments of felt, and a powdered abradant, the fragments being the order 4 of one-fourth of an inch in diameter and in proportions of approximately one part by measure of rubber fragments to three parts by measure of felt fragments.

4. The method of polishing or buffing comprising the steps of translating a plurality of workpieces in succession in a predetermined path and successively subjecting the work as it is so translated to a plurality of impinging blasts of a liquid vehicle having in suspension fragments of sponge rubber and fragments of felt inproportions of approximately one part by measure of sponge rubber to three parts by measure of the felt fragments, and an abradant.

5. The method of polishing or bufiing comprising the steps of blast impinging the work with a liquid vehicle carrying small fragments of sponge rubber and small fragments of felt, and a powdered abradant.

6. A polishing or bufling composition comprising a mixture of Tripoli paste, mineral oil, pea size pieces of sponge rubber, pea size pieces of medium hard felt and oleic acid in approximate proportions of one gallon of the Tripoli paste, one pint of the mineral oil, one quart of the sponge rubber, three quarts of the felt and suflicient oleic acid to produce a creamy consistency.

7. A polishing or buffing composition comprising a liquid vehicle of cream-like consistency, fragments of sponge rubber and fragments of felt, and a powdered abradant, the fragments being of the order of one-fourth inch in diameter, the sponge rubber and felt being in the proportions of approximately one part sponge rubber to three parts felt.

8. A polishing or buffing composition comprising a liquid vehicle of cream-like consistency, fragments of sponge rubber and fragments of felt, and a powdered abradant.

HENRY J. VANDER WAL.

REFERENCES CITED The following references are of record in the file of this patent:

UNITED STATES PATENTS Number Name Date 607,825 Burger July 26, 1898 844,046 Radell Feb. 12, 1907 1,352,598 Hart Sept. 14, 1920 1,588,768 Moulton June 15, 1926 1,907,411 Timoney May 2, 1933 1,934,494 Gillespie Nov. 7, 1933 2,062,671 Lupo Dec. 1, 1936 

